He'll Always Be There For Her
by TheShulesLovinPsycho
Summary: Lassiter knows that the man had gone too far. He sees it in the dawning realization in the man's eyes, in the way Juliet tenses under his grasp like a cat ready to spring, and spring she does. She punches Carlton in the face, and he, head detective of the SBPD, well known for being able to handle anything, Just. Can't. Think. Strong Lassiet friendship, Shules if you squint.


"No," she says, without giving it a second thought. Lassiter trails behind her, wondering how it happened that he became the good cop.

"Come on, Jules, don't be like-"

She glares at the man, and he visibly flinches. "Don't ever call me that."

"What? Jules? Okay, okay, I get it, you don't like nicknames. That doesn't mean you can't go out with me, right?"

"She said no," Lassiter states, because he sees that O'Hara is close to breaking.

"Why the hell not?" Then the man looks at Lassiter, sees his hand on Juliet's shoulder, and grins.

"Oh," he says, as if that's all there is to it. "Look, Jules, between you and me, I think we both know that that's not the best you can do. So come on, let me show you a good time. I know your type, and I know his too. I bet you've never been on a proper date. I bet he's never told you how beautiful you are, huh? You know, I think you're the kind of girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. Whose heart has been broken too many times before, right? Well, I can promise you I won't do anything to harm that precious, beautiful heart of yours, Juliet."

Lassiter is too fascinated by what he sees in front of him to stop the man. For the past year, O'Hara's face had been guarded by stone walls. With those walls in place, nothing can hurt her, she is indestructable, titanium. But now he can see that those walls are crumbling. Juliet is staring at the man, her eyes wide and shocked. It is all too much for her, the man's impeccable hair, the way he dressed with a T-shirt, snug jeans, and sneakers that looked all too familiar, the broad grin on his face. She blinks, once, twice, and the man is talking again.

"Don't worry, Juliet, I'm not stalking you or anything, I'm just really observant." Where had she heard that before? "And I'm about 99% sure that you've never had a proper boyfriend. One that made you feel special. One that loved you for who you are, not for your looks- which, by the way, are spectacular, but that's not my point." She stares at him, her mouth open now, and Lassiter can already see that this will not end well. The man places one hand on her other shoulder, dangerously close to her face, and continues."Let me guess, Jules, your last boyfriend was just another one of those assholes who wanted to get into your pants. Tell me, Juliet, when was the last time you were with a real man?"

Lassiter knows that the man had gone too far. He can see it in the dawning realization in the man's eyes, in the way Juliet tenses under his grasp like a cat ready to spring, and spring she does. She leaps on him, nails like claws, scratching and clawing all of the anger out. He grabs her around the middle, pulling her back, and she struggles. She punches Carlton in the face, and he, the head detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department, well known for being able to handle anything lets go, and he Just. Can't. Think.

She's standing over the man now, and he is ready to pull her away if he needs to. But he doesn't. The man is lying on the ground, blood pouring from his nose- nice punch, Lassiter would have thought if the situation hadn't been so serious- and staring up at her, shocked. Tears are running down her face.

"Thirteen months. Thirteen goddamn months because of stupid fucking assholes like you who don't stop to think about how their actions will affect anyone else." She doesn't seem to notice that she's drawing a crowd, that sirens are sounding outside the coffee shop next to the station. Lassiter sees McNab, ready to stop whatever fight was there, but when McNab sees her, tears and blood mingling together on her face, Lassiter can tell that the younger man doesn't know what to do. So, as he had for years before, Detective Lassiter decides for the younger officer.

"McNab. Go back to the station, make sure that the Chief doesn't find out about this."

"Find out about what, Detective?"

He knows that Juliet is in trouble now, knows that the Chief can't let this go no matter how much she wants to. But Juliet isn't paying attention to any of this.

"You think you know what a real man is? Go look up Shawn Spencer. Saved countless lives, solved a huge number of cold cases that the police couldn't, and he was a better boyfriend than you would ever be."

With that, she turns on her heel and stalks out of the store, ignoring the yells of "O'Hara!" from him and the Chief, ignoring the stares from cops and civilians alike, ignoring the man, still lying on the ground, looking shocked with blood pooling around his face. Lassiter glares at the man before yanking him roughly to his feet.

"You picked the wrong person to mess with, buddy," he growls, and he can't remember being this mad since he found the guy who shot Spencer a year ago. A whole year of Juliet retreating into her shell, her life dull and boring without the man who had brought color into their lives. A whole freaking year without Spencer. He never admits it, never would in a million years, but he actually misses the son of a bitch. The man looks bewildered now, and angry too. All of the cops are glaring at the man who reminded them so much of Shawn, and he deserves it, for thinking he could take Spencer's place. No one can take Spencer's place. Ever.

* * *

He finds her in the place he most expected her to be: the cemetery. She was curled into a ball in front of Spencer's grave, sobbing. Lassiter wraps one arm around her shoulders and sits down next to her.

"I miss him," she whispers softly, her voice breaking, and Lassiter could do nothing but hold her.

"O'H- Juliet," he says, and she looks up at him, the makeup that had remained the exact same for the past year smudged and the tight, stern bun she had been keeping her hair in loose around her shoulders, shaken free by months of pain. He doesn't know what to do; he had never been good at these kinds of situations. He clears his throat awkwardly.

"Juliet," he says again, and she rests her forehead against his chest. It's the first time he's seen her cry since the funeral, where she had spilled hot tears mixed with black eyeliner all over his brand-new jacket. He rubs her back awkwardly, running his fingers through her hair,and she sniffles a little.

"You know Vick might suspend you for this," he finds the need to reprimand her after all that's happened, and she nods into his chest.

"I don't want to," she breathes, so quietly he can barely hear her.

"You don't want to what?" he asks. It's a stupid question, but the only thing he can think of.

"Go back," she whispers, and he tightens his hold around her.

"You know you have to," he says softly into her hair, and she's crying again.

"Spen- _Shawn_ wouldn't want you to do this to yourself." He had hoped that would help, but it didn't. She shakes herself free of his hold and glares at him. Even with tears running down her face, her makeup smudged, and her hair flying wildly behind her, he still thinks she's beautiful. Not in a weird way, but in the kind of way that best friends who've known each other for a long time appreciate each other.

"You know what, Carlton? I'm sick of people telling me what Shawn would want me to do! How the hell would they know what he would want me to do?! You make him sound like some sort of saint, someone who had no faults. Well, guess what? Shawn had plenty of faults! He was selfish and immature and an irritating brat. How do you know he doesn't want me there with him? Maybe I should join him, then you'd all be happy!"

He gapes at her. "How would your committing suicide make anyone happier?"

She's still glaring, face contorted in rage, and he wants to move away from her for fear that she might hurt him, but he can't, because he knows that she needs him. And he needs her too, and he would move heaven and earth to make her understand that.

"Like you all don't wish I was gone too! It wouldn't be any different anyways, the way I go around like a zombie, without emotions. Admit it, Carlton. Everyone would be happier if I wasn't there dragging their moods down."

He opens his arms to her.

"Come here, Juliet," he says softly, and she obeys, curling into him and sitting in his lap like a child would. He rubs her back.

"Maybe some people might think they'd be happier without you, but those people are assholes."

She sniffles. "You used to call Shawn an asshole."

"Yeah, well, I was wrong. Shawn was an amazing person, and if I was mean to him, it was only to protect you."

She looks up at him at that, eyes wide.

"What do you mean?" she says, and he pulls her close.

"Do you remember that day when we found out you two were dating? When we used the lie detector on Shawn?"

She nods into his chest. "Yeah," she mumbles.

"I don't know if Spencer told you, but that day, I pulled him into the interrogation room and hooked the lie detector up to myself. Told him that if he ever hurt you I would shoot him. I wasn't lying."

She stares at him. "Sh- Shawn never told me that," she says. He smiles.

"I don't blame him. Kid looked terrified," he remarked, and she grinned. It's the first real smile from her that he's seen in months.

"Look, Juliet, all the people in the world could hate you and I'd never leave your side. I love you like a sister, and nothing will ever change that, you understand?"

She nods, and he gives her a small smile, kissing her hair.

"Good. Now come on, let's go back to the Chief. Something tells me she won't be too mad at you when she hears the full story."

She shakes her head, leaning against him like he's the only real thing in the world.

"C-Can we just stay here for a while? It... I don't want to leave Shawn." Her voice is small, but the pleading in her eyes is too much for anyone, cop or not, to refuse. He nods, wrapping his arms around her.

"O'Hara?"

"Yeah, Carlton?"

He swallows. "Don't ever try to do anything stupid, okay? I- The station would be way too quiet with both you and Spencer gone."

She smiles, and he knows she understands. That he wouldn't be able to live without her. That she is his rock, is the only thing he has to live for. She kisses his cheek and leans her head against his chest.

"Did I ever tell you about the time Shawn tried to convince me that we should go on a pineapple diet?"

"A pineapple diet?"

"Yeah, like, you eat nothing but pineapples."

He laughs. "That seems like something the bastard would do." The words are harsh, but under them there is a layer of fondness. She smiles, launching into her tale eagerly, while he strokes her hair and listens. Even as the sun starts to go down, their phones bearing an equally large number of missed calls from the Chief, the two of them stay just where they are, supporting each other, enveloped in their own cocoon of happiness that they knew wouldn't last very long, but it was what they both needed. And as Carlton laughs with her over some ridiculous tale of Spencer's- he forgot what it was about, but what did it really matter anyways?- he knows that as long as the two of them stay together, nothing can stop them.

* * *

Overhead, Shawn watches them with a small, sad smile. Before, he would have felt angry at Lassiter for touching his girl, but now all he can feel is gratefulness. Gratefulness and longing. He knows that as long as Carlton is there, Juliet would be okay. And in the end, that was all that mattered.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**This is just something I wrote a really long time ago... I wasn't going to post it, but then I looked back on it, decided that I liked it, made a couple of edits, and bam- it magically became posted. It sort of started out as my attempt to use a different writing style- I noticed that with the newest, most popular stories like the Hunger Games, Divergent trilogy, etc., all had the same writing style: for example, instead of "I said" it would be "I say". A subtle difference, but enough to make me want to try it. The only difference here is that it wasn't in first person, but that's just because I'm really awful at writing first person stories so I decided not to. I was going to post it under my collection of Shules oneshots, except, for one it's not really Shules, and also it's a different style of writing. The ones in my oneshot collection are usually happy and fluffy, and this one was, well... Not. Anyways, hope you liked the story, and as always review!**


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